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Ron Paul Survives Lies, Manipulation Of Mass Media
Vows to fight; admits ‘revolutions take longer than elections’
By Mark Anderson
A recent article entitled “A Requiem for Ron Paul,” written by Stacy Cowley for Fortune Small Business magazine online, begins:
“Ron Paul’s Friday announcement that his presidential campaign ‘will soon
wind down’ removes from the race a quixotic figure whose doomed pursuit of the White House inspired libertarians and free-market purists, including many business owners who loved his message about a nation free from regulatory fetters.”
Asked by AFP why she wrote that Paul had dropped out when he has not, Miss Cowley replied, “I think we stand by what was written,” while claiming that the article was “not a bias against a particular candidate; it’s just a function of how the media operates.”
When reminded that Paul has not actually pulled out like Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney did when they officially quit, she seemed to dodge the matter, while portraying her article as a whole as “a tribute to what he (Paul) was trying to accomplish.” She also told AFP that she put the article together (with two other reporters, just for an average length piece) near deadline, though Miss Cowley said she watched all of Paul’s latest video.
The mainstream media sees Paul as numerically out of the running in terms of delegates. But Paul confirmed he’s still in the race to keep his ideas in the arena (and to be there if McCain falls from grace or if delegates are not bound to McCain in September at the Republican National Convention).
Reporters and editors in the mainstream media want to spin their stories, instead of reporting actual statements and events as they unfold without prejudice. The result is that not enough Americans know about “the other guy” still standing in the GOP field. This deceives the electorate when the nation is in dire straits—and when many who don’t want to vote Democratic also don’t like McCain but generally are not aware there is another choice.
AFP viewed the same video that Miss Cowley and many other mainstream hacks saw, which is Rep. Paul’s latest video statement to supporters posted on ronpaul2008.com. It shows that he has not dropped out of the presidential race. But nearly all media outlets have persistently claimed that he has quit. While Paul does say “victory in the conventional political sense is not available in the presidential race,” he nevertheless clearly remains in the presidential race.
“The campaign for freedom will continue in this new phase—in this we will need financial resources to continue,” he states in a comment that the major media will not touch in its relentless effort to nudge Paul out of the race, much in the way that former Democratic candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) was forced out of the running when he was not asked by network wonks to take part in a major televised debate. He charged then that the media was making his decisions for him, rather than allowing him to decide for himself whether to remain in the running.
A valuable spinoff of the Paul campaign is exposure of the major media for what it is—an untrustworthy propaganda belt that cannot be believed. This manipulative information ministry lately has hung its hat on Paul’s statement in the video that “the presidential campaign will soon wind down.”
However, the next words out of Paul’s mouth were: “But we do still encourage all effort to gain the maximum number of votes and delegates in all the remaining primaries and to continue the caucus process that’s ongoing in other states by loyal volunteers.”
The big media also has latched onto Paul’s words: “We must remember, elections are short-term efforts. Revolutions are long-term projects.”
Many reports have characterized that video comment as signaling a dignified surrender. However, Paul said on CNN’s American Morning show: “If you’re in a campaign for only gaining power, that’s one thing. If you’re in a campaign to influence ideas and the future of the country, the campaign is never over.”
Some supporters say the Paul campaign is slow in setting the record straight when the media lie about his status. Evening news reports on NBC and other national networks report as if Paul doesn’t exist. It’s just the lackluster McCain on one hand, and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the other.
Paul has remained true to his word that as long as his supporters want him to remain in the presidential running, he will do so—even as McCain remains the media hyped “leader” for the GOP but is vulnerable to mounting scandals and revelations about his counterfeit conservatism and his checkered past.
Besides being listed as a member of the infamous Council on Foreign Relations in the CFR’s 2007 report— putting him in close quarters with the ruling-class establishment that pushes for a U.S. empire and a North American Union—McCain has not earned much heartfelt support from Republican-leaning media pundits (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc) and various longtime GOP fixtures such as evangelical leader James
Dobson.
But this GOP clique will not even mention Paul as the Reagan-like figure they claim to be longing for. But, as noted in Newsweek, Paul knew Reagan well, admires and practices some of his philosophy (get rid of the Education Department) and won “The Gipper’s” personal support when seeking election to Congress.
Paul did not want to lose the Republican nomination for his Texas congressional seat, since he wants to continue his revolution. He won that hands down versus a determined opponent. And, as AFP has noted, with that victory in his back pocket, his load is lighter and he is able to stay in the presidential running to at least give old-guard Republican voters a constitutional choice.
Republicans, Paul said on CNN, “have a right to vote for someone that stands for traditional Republican principles.”
In his latest video, Paul also reiterated the idea of having a summer march in Washington to amplify his revolution’s ideas and emphasize its enduring presence on the political scene.
“It looks to me like June 21 would be a good day,” he said, adding, however, that other individuals or groups, instead of the Paul campaign, would have to be the march’s main organizers. He attributed this to legal, logistical and practical reasons. If his march happens, AFP will be there. As for the other media, who knows?
AFP Contributing Editor Mark Anderson can be reached via email at [email protected].
(Issue # 12, March 24, 2008)
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